Article and container assembly

ABSTRACT

An article and container assembly designed as a retail sales item which, after purchase, enables the article to be situated within a container. The item which is designed for retail sales includes an outer enclosure within which is located any desired article and a container for receiving the article. After this item is purchased the article and the container can be removed from the outer enclosure so that the article can be placed within the container. The container may be gift wrapped so that in this way it is possible to purchase as one assembly both an article and a gift-wrapped container to receive the article.

[451 Mar. 28, 1972 [54] ARTICLE AND CONTAINER ASSEMBLY [72] lnventor: David Stoll, 1199 Park Avenue, New

York, NY. 10028 [22] Filed: Feb. 26, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 14,600

3,460,738 8/l969 Adams, Jr. et al. ..229/87 R Primary Examiner--William T. Dixson, Jr. Assistant Examiner-Stephen P. Garbe Attorney-Blum, Moscovitz, Friedman & Kaplan [5 7] ABSTRACT An article and container assembly designed as a retail sales item which, after purchase, enables the article to be situated within a container. The item which is designed for retail sales includes an outer enclosure within which is located any desired article and a container for receiving the article. After this item is purchased the article and the container can be removed from the outer enclosure so that the article can be placed within the container. The container may be gift wrapped so that in this way it is possible to purchase as one assembly both an article and a gift-wrapped container to receive the article.

8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures ARTICLE AND CONTAINER ASSEMBLY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to articles and containers therefor.

In particular, the present invention relates to articles such as may be commonly encountered in any retail establishment, particularly articles which are required to be placed within containers so that they may be delivered to a desired location or may be presented to an individual for whom the article is intended.

At the present time when a purchaser enters a retail establishment to buy an article, it frequently happens that the purchaser wishes the article to be placed within a container suitable for delivery as a gift or designed to be sent through the mails, for example. Under these conditions it is necessary for the purchaser, after purchasing the article at one part of the retail establishment, to go to another part of the establishment where the article is suitably packaged. Often this creates a considerable inconvenience for the purchaser because of the fact that it is necessary not only to wait while the article is being packaged, but it is quite often necessary, particularly at certain times of the year such as during the Christmas season, to wait in long lines until the article can be given to an individual who will package it.

In addition, it is of course necessary for the owner of the retail establishment to maintain on hand a suitable staff doing nothing but packaging articles of this type and of course in addition to the staff it is necessary to provide suitable space in which the operations can be carried out.

All of the above requirements create not only inconvenience for all of the parties, namely the seller as well as the purchaser, but in addition the costs of the items are necessarily higher than they would otherwise be. This latter factor is particularly true because of high labor costs involved in connection with personnel who do nothing but package the articles.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide an item which is designed for retail sale and which will avoid the above drawbacks.

In particular, it is an object of the invention to provide, as an item of retail sale, an assembly where the purchased article is purchased together with a suitable container in which the article may be located, so that the purchaser may himself place the purchased article within the container and need not stand in line or require the retailer to have on hand facilities for packaging a purchased article.

It is particularly an object of the present invention to provide an item of the above type which is extremely convenient not only to sell but also to manipulate after the item has been purchased.

Also, it is an object of the invention to provide an item of the above type which enables a purchased article to be very readily placed within a container which is gift wrapped in the most convenient manner, involving practically no effort or ad ditional cost on the part of the purchaser.

According to the invention, the item which is intended for retail sale includes an outer enclosure within which there is the article which is purchased as well as a container for the article. Thus, when the container and article are both removed from the outer enclosure, the article may be located within the container.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustration of one possible embodiment of an item according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a partly fragmentary, perspective, exploded view of all the various components which go to make up the item of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective illustration of another embodiment of an item according to the invention;

FIG. 4 shows the item of FIG. 3 also in an exploded perspective view; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective illustration showing details of gift-wrapped containers of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring first to FIGS. 1 and 2, the item 10 shown in FIG. I is intended and designed for retail sales. Thus any department store, for example, may place items 10 on a counter where it may conveniently be purchased. In this particular example the item 10 includes an outer enclosure 12, in the form of a sealed sheet-material envelope made of a transparent plastic, so that the elements within the outer enclosure 12 are fully visible.

These elements within the outer enclosure 12, in the illustrated example, include a shirt 14, together with a tie l6, and a container 18 for receiving the article which in this case is formed by the shirt 14 and tie 16.

Thus, the article 14,16 together with the container 18 may be placed within the outer enclosure 12 which then may be sealed at its flap 20, for example. This forms the entire item 10 which is purchased by the ultimate consumer.

When the consumer wishes to make use of the purchased item 10, the outer enclosure 12 is opened and the article 14, 16 together with the container 18 are both removed. The container 18 is made of a foldable sheet material and is within the enclosure 12 in a flattened condition. Thus, the container 18 may be maintained in this flattened condition by an endless elastic filament 22, for example. If desired, the entire flattened container 18 may be folded in half so as to occupy a lesser area, and it may be maintained in this latter folded condition also by an endless elastic 22, for example.

After the container and article are removed from the outer enclosure, the container may be set up for use. It is preferred to form the container of a box which has the form of a flattened tube in its condition within the enclosure 12, this tube having opposed open ends where the sheet material of the box is provided with suitable flaps. Some of these end closure flaps 24 are visible at the lower left of FIG. 2. This box is itself prewrapped in a sheet material 26, which may be a suitable gift wrapping, and when the box is set up the article 14, 16 may be situated therein. Then the end flaps 24 are closed, and the gift-wrap 26 is sufficiently large so that it may be folded over the closed end flaps, to form a complete package which may be sent through the mails or delivered by hand as a gift, for example.

In the embodiment of the invention which is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the item 30, which is designed for retail sale, also includes an outer transparent enclosure 32, made of a suitable transparent plastic, for example. However, in this case the enclosure 32 has an upper slotted portion 34 as well as a transverse open area 36 at one of its walls. Through this area 36 it is possible to situate within the enclosure 32 an article such as a blouse 38 located on a hanger 40 having a hook 42 which can conveniently extend out through the slot 34, as indicated in FIG. 3. Also situated within the enclosure 32 is a container 44 which in the illustrated example includes an inner box 48 and an outer gift wrapping 50, or the like made of a suitable decorative sheet material.

Thus, in the case of the item of FIGS. 3 and 4, after the item 30 is purchased, the user will simply remove the article 38 together with the hanger 40 and the container 44. The tubular flattened box 48 can be set up so that its ends open to enable the article 38, after it is suitably folded to be introduced into the box, and then the end flaps of the box can be closed, whereupon the ends of the tubular wrap 50 can also be folded over the closed flaps and held in closed condition by adhesive transparent cellophane tape or the like, as is well known.

In the case of the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, or in the case of the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4, as well as with many other types of articles, the container will have the details shown in FIG. 5. Thus, the container 60 shown in FIG. 5 has features which are generally applicable to all of the articles of the items of the invention. This container 60 includes an inner box 62 made of a fairly heavy cardboard or the like and provided with suitable score lines so that it is foldable. This box 62 can have a flattened condition, and upon removal from the outer enclosure it can be set up in a manner shown in FIG. 5 so that the top and bottom walls of the box are spaced from each other with the narrow sides 64 of the box in a vertical condition. The box will have at each end a pair of short side closure flaps 66 and long narrow top and bottom wall closure flaps 68. After the article is situated within the box the small flaps 66 are turned inwardly toward each other and then the long narrow flaps 68 are turned one upon the other and over the small flaps 66.

The entire tubular box is situated within and surrounded by a decorative sheet material 70 which has a pair of opposed free end regions 72 which can easily be folded over the closed end flaps 66, 68 and held in place by cellophane tape or the like.

Thus, with the present invention the purchaser will purchase an item which includes in the outer enclosure of the item not only the article which is purchased but also a container for receiving the article. It is important to recognize that in many cases purchase of an article is only a preliminary step toward the achievement of a final objective. Thus, under many circumstances a purchaser is interested not only in purchasing an article but also in having the article in a condition where it is suitably packaged. In order to achieve this latter end, which forms a single unitary objective, it is necessary not only to purchase the article but also to situate it within a suitable con tainer to form the desired package. This requires either the retail establishment itself to have facilities for such purposes, or the purchaser after performing the preliminary step of purchasing the article, must then go to the inconvenience and expense of purchasing a suitable container and wrapping for the article. All of these latter complications are avoided with the present invention which enables the purchaser to purchase both the article and the container so that the final single objective of achieving a packaged article can be directly attained with the purchase of the single item of the invention. Moreover, considerable conveniences are involved since the box of the container of the invention comes in a condition where it is already wrapped within a suitable decorative wrapping.

What is claimed is:

1. An item designed for retail sales, comprising an outer enclosure, an article within said outer enclosure, and a container within said outer enclosure to receive the article after the latter and the container are removed from the outer enclosure, so that the container with the article therein can form an independent package, said article having a given peripheral size and configuraand said outer enclosure having a peripheral edge the size and configuration of which corresponds substantially to the peripheral size and configuration of said article so that the peripheral dimensions of said enclosure are no greater than what would be required to accommodate in said enclosure the article by itself, said enclosure having a pair of opposed walls between which the article is located, and said container being substantially flat and situated in said outer enclosure between one of said walls thereof and the article so that the thickness of the outer enclosure is not substantially increased by situating said container therein.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said outer enclosure is at least partly of a transparent sheet material of an area sufficiently great to render both the article and the container visible within the outer enclosure.

3. An item designed for retail sales, comprising an outer enclosure, an article within said outer enclosure, a container within said outer enclosure to receive the article after the latter and the container are removed from the outer enclosure, so that the container with the article therein can form an independent package, said outer enclosure being at least partly of a transparent sheet material of an area sufficiently great to render both the article and the contamer visible within the outer enclosure, and a hanger situated within the outer enclosure supporting the article therein, said outer enclosure being formed with a slot through which a hook of the hanger extends to the exterior of the outer enclosure.

4. An item designed for retail sales, comprising an outer enclosure, an article within said outer enclosure, and a container within said outer enclosure to receive the article after the latter and the container are removed from the outer enclosure, so that the container with the article therein can form an independent package, said container being composed of a flexible sheet material and being in a flattened condition within said outer enclosure, the foldable sheet material enabling the container to be set up for use after it is removed with the article from the outer enclosure.

5. The combination of claim 4 and wherein the foldable sheet material of the container includes an inner foldable box and an outer decorative wrap surrounding the box and situated thereon both in the flattened condition of the box within the outer enclosure and in the set-up condition of the box after removal thereof with the gift wrap from the outer enclosure.

6. The combination of claim 5 and wherein said box is in the form of an elongated tubular container having end flaps which can be folded over each other across the ends of the box to close the latter after the article has been situated within the box.

7. The combination of claim 6 and wherein the gift wrap is of a sufficiently great size to cover the folded end flaps.

8. The combination of claim 7 and wherein the outer enclosure is in the form of a transparent plastic sheet material rendering both the container and the article visible therein. 

1. An item designed for retail sales, comprising an outer enclosure, an article within said outer enclosure, and a container within said outer enclosure to receive the article after the latter and the coNtainer are removed from the outer enclosure, so that the container with the article therein can form an independent package, said article having a given peripheral size and configuraand said outer enclosure having a peripheral edge the size and configuration of which corresponds substantially to the peripheral size and configuration of said article so that the peripheral dimensions of said enclosure are no greater than what would be required to accommodate in said enclosure the article by itself, said enclosure having a pair of opposed walls between which the article is located, and said container being substantially flat and situated in said outer enclosure between one of said walls thereof and the article so that the thickness of the outer enclosure is not substantially increased by situating said container therein.
 2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said outer enclosure is at least partly of a transparent sheet material of an area sufficiently great to render both the article and the container visible within the outer enclosure.
 3. An item designed for retail sales, comprising an outer enclosure, an article within said outer enclosure, a container within said outer enclosure to receive the article after the latter and the container are removed from the outer enclosure, so that the container with the article therein can form an independent package, said outer enclosure being at least partly of a transparent sheet material of an area sufficiently great to render both the article and the container visible within the outer enclosure, and a hanger situated within the outer enclosure supporting the article therein, said outer enclosure being formed with a slot through which a hook of the hanger extends to the exterior of the outer enclosure.
 4. An item designed for retail sales, comprising an outer enclosure, an article within said outer enclosure, and a container within said outer enclosure to receive the article after the latter and the container are removed from the outer enclosure, so that the container with the article therein can form an independent package, said container being composed of a flexible sheet material and being in a flattened condition within said outer enclosure, the foldable sheet material enabling the container to be set up for use after it is removed with the article from the outer enclosure.
 5. The combination of claim 4 and wherein the foldable sheet material of the container includes an inner foldable box and an outer decorative wrap surrounding the box and situated thereon both in the flattened condition of the box within the outer enclosure and in the set-up condition of the box after removal thereof with the gift wrap from the outer enclosure.
 6. The combination of claim 5 and wherein said box is in the form of an elongated tubular container having end flaps which can be folded over each other across the ends of the box to close the latter after the article has been situated within the box.
 7. The combination of claim 6 and wherein the gift wrap is of a sufficiently great size to cover the folded end flaps.
 8. The combination of claim 7 and wherein the outer enclosure is in the form of a transparent plastic sheet material rendering both the container and the article visible therein. 